Tree Removal
Dead, dangerous or badly placed trees taken out whole or dismantled in sections over the house.
Learn more →A full tree service across the North Shore
North Shore Tree Care arranges tree removal, tree lopping, pruning, stump grinding and stump removal for houses, strata blocks and commercial sites from Lane Cove to Hornsby. The work is done by experienced arborists with maintained gear, and the first thing that happens on any job is an assessment of whether the tree can legally be touched at all.
That last part matters more here than almost anywhere else in Sydney. Ku-ring-gai and Willoughby councils run tree controls that are among the most restrictive in New South Wales, and Ku-ring-gai in particular actively enforces them. Two critically endangered ecological communities — Blue Gum High Forest and Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest — survive in fragments across these suburbs and carry protection on top of the ordinary council rules. A crew that turns up and starts cutting without checking is a crew that can leave you holding a very expensive problem.
What we do
Most of the calls fall into a handful of jobs. Whole tree removal where a tree is dead, structurally failing or simply in the wrong place. Tree lopping to take weight off limbs overhanging a roof or a pool. Pruning to Australian Standard AS 4373 so a tree keeps its shape and its health. Stump grinding after a removal, or full stump removal where new footings or a pool shell need clear ground. Then the specialised jobs — palms and bamboo, hedges that have outgrown the fence line, and emergency storm work after a southerly comes through.
What we will not do is top a healthy tree because it is tall. Cutting a mature eucalypt back to stubs produces a flush of weakly attached regrowth that is more dangerous in five years than the original tree was, and on a protected species it is also an offence. If reduction pruning is the wrong answer for your tree, we will say so.
The trees you actually have
The ridge suburbs along the Pacific Highway grew up on Wianamatta shale, and that soil grew enormous blackbutt, Sydney blue gum and turpentine. A lot of them are still standing in back gardens on half-acre blocks at Pymble, Gordon and St Ives, forty metres of tree above a 1930s slate roof. They are magnificent and they are a rigging problem: there is rarely room for a crane, so the tree comes down in sections lowered on rope.
Drop off the ridge into the gullies at Lane Cove, Riverview or Hornsby Heights and the ground changes to Hawkesbury sandstone, the species change to Sydney peppermint, angophora and scribbly gum, and the access changes to stairs and a climbing job. Out toward Ryde the blocks are flatter, the development pressure is higher, and most removals are driven by knock-down rebuilds rather than by the tree itself.
Getting a price
Every quote is free and given after someone has looked at the tree, the access and what sits under it. Nothing on this site quotes a dollar figure, because a fifteen-metre blackbutt over a pool at Killara and a fifteen-metre blackbutt in an open paddock are not the same job. The cost guide explains exactly what moves the number.
Ring (02) 9090 4915, tell us the suburb and roughly what you are looking at, and we will tell you whether it needs a permit, a climber or a machine. The service area pages cover what is specific to each suburb, and the FAQ answers the permit questions people ask most.
Why choose us
Local specialists you can rely on
We know the councils here
Ku-ring-gai and Willoughby run two of the tightest tree controls in NSW. We tell you what needs a permit before anyone quotes a saw cut.
Big trees on tight blocks
Mature blackbutt and turpentine over a 1930s roof is a rigging job, not a felling job. We climb and lower in sections where a truck cannot reach.
Gully and bushland access
Lane Cove and Hornsby blocks fall away behind the house. We quote on how the timber gets out, not just how it comes down.
Storm response, day or night
Limbs on roofs and trees across driveways after a southerly. Call and say what has failed and where it has landed.
Our services
What we do across Sydney's North Shore
Tree Loppers
Weight reduction, branch and deadwood removal on overgrown gums, turpentines and planted exotics.
Learn more → Tree Pruning
Crown lifting, thinning and clearance pruning done to Australian Standard so the tree survives it.
Learn more → Stump Grinding
Grinding the stump and buttress roots below ground so you can turf, pave or replant over it.
Learn more → Stump Removal
Stump and root plate dug out entirely where footings, pipes or a new slab need clear ground.
Learn more → Palm & Bamboo Removal
Cocos and Bangalow palms taken down in a driveway-width space, and running bamboo dug out properly.
Learn more → Hedge Trimming
Lilly pilly, photinia and murraya screens brought back to a line you can maintain yourself.
Learn more → Emergency Tree Work
Storm damage, split trunks and limbs on roofs, with 24/7 response across the North Shore.
Learn more →
Areas serviced
Proudly serving the local area
ChatswoodHornsbyLane CoveWilloughbyRydeSt IvesGordonPymble
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Do I need council approval to remove a tree on the North Shore?
Usually yes. Ku-ring-gai, Willoughby, Hornsby, Lane Cove and Ryde all regulate tree work through their development control plans, and most trees above roughly three metres tall need a permit or an exemption before anything is cut. Penalties for removing a protected tree are large. We tell you which category your tree falls into before quoting the work.
How fast can you get to a tree that has come down?
Emergency storm work is answered around the clock on (02) 9090 4915. Tell us what has failed, where it has landed and whether anyone is cut off or a powerline is involved. Anything touching an Ausgrid line is reported to Ausgrid first — a tree crew cannot legally work on a live conductor.
What happens to the timber and branches?
Branches go through the chipper on site and the chip leaves with the truck unless you want it dropped on the garden beds, which costs nothing extra. Trunk wood is cut into rounds and removed. If you want firewood lengths left stacked, say so when the job is quoted so the crew cuts to length rather than to whatever fits the tipper.
Do you work on both sides of the Pacific Highway?
Yes. The regular footprint runs Lane Cove and Willoughby in the south, through Chatswood, Gordon, Pymble and St Ives, up to Hornsby and across to Ryde. Blocks on the western fall toward Lane Cove National Park and the eastern fall toward Middle Harbour behave very differently, and the quote reflects which one you are on.
Free, no-obligation